Epidemiology of mental disorders in older women

Abstract

The epidemiology of mental disorders in older women is complex because of overlapping symptomatology with common chronic medical conditions, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders. There also exist many overlapping symptoms within specific mental disorders common in older women, such as cognitive impairment and depressed mood as symptoms of both major depressive disorder (MDD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Greater understanding of mental disorders in older women is of significant clinical importance, especially given the well-documented demographic imperatives such as the increasingly older age distribution of the population and the disproportionate rise in health care expenditures with increasing age (Martini et al. 2007). © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York.